The map of the month for October is Abergavenny, a location which is mentioned a lot in the Chartist documents. This high quality map is one of a set of three drawn by James Todd for the parish, it is 1.2m x 1.4 m and therefore rather large and difficult to present as a normal graphic. It will look much better on the live system, which will be available in a few weeks.

Over the years tithe maps have been too popular for their own good, and the map of Gwyddelwern is not an exception. This map was made in 1839, and a few months ago it was in a serious contidion.

The edges were falling to pieces, and each time the map was opened more small pieces were falling off.

Before the map could be digitised for the Cynefin project it needed to be treated. As the S4C television programme “Darn Bach o Hanes” wanted to come to the Library to look at the map, we moved on with greater urgency. The map needed to be cleaned, and the loose parts needed to be carefully pasted into place. Thanks to this skilled work it is possible to film and scan this map safely.

The “Darn Bach o Hanes” television programme refered to the tithe war, and the information in the schedules are very relevant to that case. The schedules, or apportionment documents indicate exactly what the cost of the tithe was for each field, and reflected the production capacity of each field in 1839. This figure did not change, and this caused tensions in the 1880s when the price of agrigultural produce fell.

While the Library has her own copy of the tithe apportionments, the copy used by the project has been scanned by the TNA. The Cynefin project aims to transcribe all this information.

This map of Cerrig Ceinwen in Anglesey seems rural but in fact includes the outskirts of Llangefni, and the area built over by the A55. This map was drawn in 1842 by John Ralph Haslam of Eirianell Goch, Menai Bridge.

This is a part of the map of the parish of Llanelli focusing on the town itself. The town seems to be a a small nucleated settlement with St Elli Parish church at its core. The Ordanance Survey 1st edition map used by People’s collection Wales shows Llanelli to be considerably larger even only a short time later.

Many towns and villages were excluded from the tithe survey, or appear on tithe maps in varying degrees of detail and accuracy. Many small coalfield communities in Wales experienced unprecedented growth during the second half of the nineteenth century and their delineation on tithe maps contrasts significantly with their present form. This is so true of Llanelli.

In 1830 the population of Llanelli and district numbered some 17,000. By 1900 it had grown to 36,000 and today totals some 40,000. Llanelli’s growth derived predominantly from the presence of tinplate works and allied industries. The one hundred year dominance of metal production in the town began to gain momentum from the mid nineteenth century with the construction of the Dafen and then the Morfa tinplate works. By 1880 the town had seven tinplate works, earning it the name ‘Tinopolis’.

Thousands of rural folk flocked to the burgeoning tinplate, steel and iron works and invested their wages in houses with modern amenities. Shops, chapels, churches, schools, hospitals, new roads, tramways and their accompanying infrastructures also came to fruition so contributing to the creation the ‘Tinopolis’ we know today.

This 1842 map of Llanelli by Thomas Lott Martin of Ynystawe is very large, it’s over 2.5 metres high and 1.5 metres wide. The area represented on it is also large, reaching from Pontyberem in the north to the town of Llanelli and the south coast. It includes many interesting features for the period – a railway, a tramway and a canal, but excludes some non titheable areas.

It is difficult to compress this map and present it as an image on the web, it will be much easier to examine this map with proper map serving technology when the interface becomes live within a few months.

The Llanelwedd Tithe Map Schedule is a relatively complete record of the field-names of the parish in the 1840s, listed by holding. An unique number for each field corresponds to a location on the Tithe Map.

As one would expect in a parish on the language divide, English and Welsh names exist side by side within the parish and also on individual farms. We see examples of English and Welsh elements co-existing in single field-names, such as Cae glas upper [‘upper green field’] (98) and Cae shepherd [‘shepherd’s field’] (93).

The nature of the names are quite varied, but it is likely that the most common names (as in Wales generally) are those with the adjectives little, large, upper, lower, middle, further: Little Meadow (122), Dol fawr [‘large meadow’] (323), High field (282), Cae llwyd isaf [‘lower grey field’] (91), Middle Meadow (300), and Further field (35).

Other names describe a particular field’s location in relation to the farmhouse or other building or feature. In Llanelwedd parish, we have Cae wrth gefn y ty [‘field at the back of the house’](232), Field before the House (114), Cefn deiladisaf ac uchaf [‘lower and upper back of the building’] (274), and Waun dan y coed [‘meadow below the woods’] (156).

A perceived shape is reflected in some field-names: Long field (246), and Cae Syth [‘straight field’](88); and it seems that Round about (57) received it’s name because it was L-shaped.

Occasionally names describe the nature of a parcel of land. One can assume that Cae drussy [‘briars field’] (153) was once full of briars or thorns; that Waun arw [‘rough meadow’] (51) was quite uneven; stones could have been a problem on the surface of Cae Cerrig [‘stone field’] (58); and Cefn poeth [‘hot or burning ridge’] (137) would tend to scorch in the sun.

Field-names indicate important natural resources: a supply of water would be available at Waun y [f]fynon [‘well meadow’] (148); gorse could be gathered at Caer eithin [‘gorse field’] (207) for shredding as fodder for horses; and Banc Waun y to [‘bank of the roof heath’] (242) would denote a place where an abundance of rushes was available for roofing.

Other names may refer to specific persons, as in the case of Gwynne’s Meadow (301). It is often quite impossible to trace who they were with certainty. In this instance, however, the name may well refer to a member of the Gwynne family who resided at Llanelwedd Hall for several generations. An occupation or trade is frequently commemorated: Cae Tailwr [‘ tailor/manurer’s field’] (90), Waun Tanner [‘tanner’s field’] (299), Cae tinker [‘tinker’s field’] (315), and Cae shepherd [‘shepherd’s field’] (93). But who, I wonder, was the criminal whose dark deeds gave rise to Cae Lleidr [‘thief’s field’] (97) (although lleidr could possibly be a misreading of neidr ‘snake’ as in the previous record)?

Prepared by Angharad Fychan in cooperation with the Welsh Place-Name Society

Our map of the month for June is Llansaintfraed – it’s a good example for showing some of the challenges facing the project. The unfamiliar spelling reminds us of the need to consider the standards and authorities of place names. This map also contains a detatched part of the tithe district, and and another part – the village of Llannon – enlarged in an inset.

The Cynefin project aims to digitise 1200 tithe maps by the end of 2016, and since the beginning of April and 49 have been digitised. Also, of the 1200 maps to be digitised, about 800 need conservation work, and 48 of these have been treated since the beginning of April.

This week have been testing georeferencing at the National Library of Wales, and the images below demonstrate the success of this work so far.

This summer there will be opportunities for volunteers and members of the public to contribute to use a system which enables the fitting tithe to a modern geographical system, and local knowledge will be vitally important to ensure the accuracy of this work.

The 175th anniversary of the first Rebecca rising is a great opportunity for the Cynefin project to demonstrate the value of the information held in the tithe maps and apportionments, and also show the benefit of digitisation.

The leader of the rebellion on the 13th of May 1839 was a farmer known as “Twm Carnabwth”. He was not a rich farmer, “Carnabwth” is a reference to his house quickly built on common land according to the Welsh tradition of “Ty Unnos”. He should appear on the apportionment documents, but how easy is he to find?

Try it for yourself – how much tithe did Twm pay? The map and the relevant apportionment page are provided below, but this is insufficient to confirm we have the right man. Is Carnabwth the name of his farm? You will probably need a quick check on Wikipedia and spend some time on the historic maps provided by the People’s Collection.

Can you find Carnabwth – or a similar name?

Once the Cynefin project is complete the map of Mynachlog-ddu will be geo-referenced, the apportionment document will be transcribed, and Twm Carnabwth’s house will be geo-tagged. We will be able to carry out this type of query and many other similar queries much more efficiently.